From zero to Upper Intermediate

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    In this post, you will learn, as I myself, without tutors and courses, without spending a single penny, learned English in a year almost from full 0 to Upper Intermediate.

    So, everything is quite simple: Motivation! It was she who gave impetus to self-development and the thirst for knowledge of the English rules, words and letters. You must admit that you will stop a little if you have a motivation ...

    Everyone can have their own motivation: some have to go abroad in search of a better life / work / study, others can watch films in original and enjoy the votes of the actors, and not listen our cool, flawed translations, from third, understand English-language lectures, thereby killing two birds with one stone: learning English, replenishing your vocabulary, and developing in the area that interests you. (Purely for reference, in almost every area, whether it is anatomy, programming, drawing or something else, is full of different courses and materials, and even more in English, they are cooler and more qualitative. That is, you have more options for what to see and read.

    When everything became clear with motivation, you need to outline a training plan. It can be individual for everyone, for one reads better, another listens, the third talk ... You need to find a middle ground for yourself. That is, spend more time on one thing and less on another, so that there is no bias such as you read well, but speak poorly or something like that.

    It is clear that without knowing the basic set of words you will not go far in any of these sections. Therefore, you need to start with the cramming of words, but it is with memorizing words. Services like Anki and LinguaLeo help very well with this. In both of them it is very convenient: there are functions of interval repetition, there are voices of words, their transcriptions and visual representations. Anki can be downloaded on Android for free, but Apple users will have to pay almost 1000 rubles for it. This can be circumvented by practicing on the site of Anki himself without downloading the application on the Iphone or Ipad. LinguaLeo is free on both Android and Apple, but it has some limitations, such as the limit to add words to the dictionary, a shortened grammar, and so on. Full subscription for the year is 1200r. You can get a free subscription by inviting friends.

    As soon as you learn a basic set of words, such that you can understand what is required of you in a textbook (English / American English textbook!), You can move on to grammar. In parallel with cramming a basic set of words, I recommend practicing these words by pronouncing them. This is quite convenient to do with the help of Dr. Pimsler's method, (his lessons can be downloaded, they are free). The essence of this method is that you listen to simple dialogues and repeat them. Very convenient, allows you to fix the words. In parallel with this, you need to read! Reading is very important, do not underestimate it, it was on it that a lot of people who donated toefl / ielts got burned. (international English exam).

    Reading should begin to develop with simple adapted tales for stupid, runners like Winnie the Pooh or something like that.

    As soon as we push off from a complete zero, and we can say / write / read something intelligible, we must move on, namely, complicate! The grammar will help you “Red Murphy or the Oxford grammar textbook (both elementaries)”, in listening - the BBC podcasts for learners of English, the conversation - the native speaker (Englishman for practice) or at worst, watch adapted videos, write phrases from conversations and recite them, reading - the same adapted books. We also continue to use Anki and LinguaLeo. Leo, for example, is full of materials that will help you learn grammar, pull up reading and listening.

    Once this milestone has been reached, you can clearly speak (describe yourself, tell about your goals / desires and so on, using simple phrases and sentences), move on. You can start watching normal videos / series / materials for further study ... Videos created by the natives for the natives. Wow You can start watching the TV series “Friends”!

    In the grammar you will be helped by the same, but already blue Murphy (blue) and yellowed Oxford (yellow), I recommend to go through both textbooks, because one of the grammar is well-written in the other is good practice. In listening - the BBC podcasts, Luke's English podcast (especially fond of me), songs, etc. ( Those who are interested in podcasts, I wrote an article about 10 of my favorite podcasts). Conversation - look for nativs, this can be done with the help of the interpals and scout sites (For more details, see the next article). Reading - texts for exams like toefl / ielts. We continue to use Anki and LinguaLeo for vocabulary replenishment.

    After this turn, you can safely move on to something more serious, namely, read English literature in the original, watch films in the original, talk on various topics with the natives, listen to the podcasts for the natives created by the natives and take by storm the green Murphy and Oxford greened .

    Listening and reading can be done while on the road, while grammar and conversation will have to take time during the day. The Internet is very useful thing, it has a lot of textbooks, materials that you can download for free! You can learn English without spending anything but time on it! The main thing is your desire, motivation and belief in yourself. With motivation and a good start, classes will become a habit for you and then it will be easier and more pleasant for you ...

    Below are links to textbooks, podcasts, courses and other useful materials for you.
    (A little advice: determine what is very interesting for you, and watch and read about it in English, so the training will be held with great pleasure)

    Learn and develop and motivate others! If any of the readers has their own success story, please write in the comments.

    1. Here you can take texts for reading .
    2. Here you can watch TV shows, read books, listen to Dr. Pimsler’s course .
    3. The series Friends. Sorry, could not not put it here .
    4. Oxford English courses .
    5. The same Murphy (red) .
    6. The same Murphy (blue) .
    7. Oxford 3 textbooks
    8. Leo .
    9. Anki .
    ten.A very good resource with varying difficulty lessons from EngVid .
    11. Site for searching natives Interpals .
    12. Site to search for natives Scout .
    13. Coursera Free Course Storage

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